Sad Day in Backpack Land

Well, I made the tough decision today to buy the replacement for my ever trustworthy backpack. I won that backpack at SDSU's freshman orientation by being the first to answer the trivia question. Here is the question, we'll see if any one out there can answer it. What was the score of the game where the college got it's mascot's name? And as a bonus, how did they earn their mascot (Jackrabbit) name and who was the game against? The answer coming later on. Anyhow, I knew the answer because I was paying attention at orientation, and won the ROTC South Dakota State University Backpack with a tough leather bottom. That thing was durable, and I used it every day since I won it. It carried so many books, so many other items since I've finished college. The backpack has often gotten me asked if I was in ROTC, even when I used it at school in Minnesota, I was asked about the backpack. And now, it's developed a (somewhat large) hole in the very top by the zipper. Having it fixed crossed my mind, but I decided that by the time I do that, it would be just as cheap to replace it, so I did tonight. It's a sad day, because this great backpack was a piece of my past.


Ok, now the answers. The question that was asked, "What was the score of the game where the college got it's mascot's name?" The answer was a contest against the University of Minnesota (I think it was in the 1930s, 1936 seems to ring a bell, but that was 7 years ago when I did orientation, so I don't quite remember clearly). The U of M won the game against South Dakota State 70-0 that day. The U of M coach at the time was asked what it was like to play the kids from South Dakota, and he answered, "They were as fast as Jackrabbits." And the name has stuck ever since. And now you know the rest of the story.

Dear Alumnus.....

(Here is the lettered response I had prepared to send to a person who approached me about our standards and practice and game conduct with the soccer team. The message this person left was left in fun, but with today's technology, I could just email it, or since this nameless person is a reader of this blog, just post it here so this person reads it. The following piece is ALL satire and should be considered fun.)
_______________________

Dear Alumnus,

I am sorry that you feel so poorly about our practice. The kids asked to wear the things they do at practice. We have alternate colors for them to wear, but they opted for their own style. It has no effect on their hustle, so therefore we do not feel the need to step in. In a couple of years, the trees will be tall enough you won't have to look.

As far as the past games, we coach our kids to play the game hard all the time until the game is over. We also have a respect for our opponents. We are content with our current stat of goals per game, as long as we win games. But, as it turns out, your teams of 1990 and 1991 did not average 7 goals per game either. The 1990 team's official record was 5-5, and you only scored 23 goals while giving up 24. The 1991 team's record was 5-7. While they scored 38 goals, they gave up 41. Just thought I would point that out for you.

Thank you.
_______________________

I came across this somewhat poor quality image of our soccer team from 1997. I was a freshmen that year and am right in the middle of the photo.


Again, please note this post is all satire.

Off and Running

Our soccer season is now under way with games last night and more to be played today. I was quite happy in my coaching debut with the teams effort, only the result stung a little. We trailed 1-0 after one half of play, and some of that was marred by players having to be disciplined for missing practices, and 2 had less playing time due to injuries. In the second half though, we came to life. We got a goal from our midfielder Morgan who punched it right past the goal keeper as she got all alone in front of the net. It was quite interesting to watch, because since she is so young, she is also quite short, and one of the defenders had to have been over 6'5" tall, and she is maybe 4 feet tall. She never did once back down to any of them though, and it was cool she got to score our first goal of the season. We actually led 2-1 in the second half, but gave up 2 goals, one with a minute to go in the game to end up with the loss 3-2. But hey, a young team with only four 8th graders on it, and the rest are all 7th graders played with a JV team from a AA school that maybe had two eighth graders on it and went up to juniors, I was quite proud of the kids, although I'd have been quite excited with a draw in the game, it wasn't meant to be this time.

In comparison, I didn't think the varsity was too bad, but they didn't have the success moving the ball the JV did. A couple of defensive lapses and we lose 3-1. Today is a new day to redeem ourselves though, upcoming morning game to finish off the quick 2 game home stand before heading west river for the holiday weekend.

The Final Countdown

Cue the music, and get ready....we are just hours away from my coaching debut. Kickoff is tomorrow at 4pm, and that will be the moment of truth. We are a little banged up and will be short handed for the first part of the game. I've only got 11 eligible players because of missing practice violations and injuries. Good thing I don't have any fewer, but the first half could be interesting. The entire JV team will be made up of 8th and 7th graders. When we play our game tomorrow we will face a AA opponent - Sturgis. In soccer, your class is based on skill level, not school size. That is why in our first 7 games we will play schools with enrollments of A or AA standings with the High School Activities Association.

Also, getting warmed up for some refereeing. More assignments are coming out to me, and those will keep me quite busy within practice, games, and refereeing games and working my regular job. I guess I'll have to catch up on sleep in the winter, because it won't be happening in the fall with the schedule I'm keeping so far, but that's part of the adventure. I'd better get some sleep to be ready for the big debut tomorrow, so we'll see you out there at 4pm.

Being a Media Guru

Yes, I'm self gloating here. I just had to after sporting one more of my many talents in the world of communications. It's a large umbrella, but I do so many things. First, I write what you read right here. Second, I work in radio, so that counts easily. I also do work in video, which some of you may know better than others. In fact, many of you may have seen some of my work without even knowing, or had me work on some projects of yours. My latest was another wedding. I think this was the 11th one I've done now, and the work gets better every time I do one. With the equipment upgrades recently, and with some help from the family involved in the wedding, I got to use a high definition camera.


It's as small as it may seem, just slightly bigger than a pop can on it's side (when the camera is closed up). The images are stunning that it can produce. Right now, I'm in the process of importing everything from the wedding to my computer. Here is how that all went, for those of you wondering what goes into the process of making a wedding video.

First, I arrived at the church about 2 hours ahead of the wedding to get tests done on the camera. It was set up the night before during rehearsal, and now the tests are re-done to make sure it's going to go well. I also get a couple of just candid shots from here or there to maybe use in a post-production menu design. Plus, with an HD camera, you can use any video frame as a photo because of it's high resolution. I also go ahead and get the sound tested and make sure the camera will function properly with that. When the candles are being lit, it's time to begin the show. So from there is move in and out and get shots of everything during the wedding, including the funny parts of a wedding which usually involves the lighting of the unity candle. This one was no different. The HD video shows the pieces of the groom's candle shattering as he pulls it off the stand. No fire, and they kept on going. Following the ceremony, it's to the reception for the post-wedding festivities and the dance. All these are parts that can be eliminated depending on the wedding, but this was a full-blown deal here, so I started around 2pm, and got home from the dance around 12:30am. Tonight the beginning of the video creation. This may take more time than usual because of large amount of extra footage that will go into this DVD. The editing the moving and creating the DVD are the best parts. I would enjoy just doing that, but when your a one person operation, you have to cover it all. But that's all part of the fun.

One week down....

Well, we are at the point now where we've put in one week of soccer practice, and with all the drills, you often wonder how the team will stack up against an opponent. Well, tomorrow we have a team scrimmage that will involve pretty much all the players we have. It's a chance to see individuals, defense, offense, and make some corrections.

For me, it's going to be fun to see the goal keepers in action to see the week of drills pay off. The guys are getting tired of the drills, so it's always good to get out and play some. We are 6 days away from our first game, with no practice tomorrow, that is going to leave just 4 days before we get back to normal practices and school starting on Monday. Since I'm an outsider, that part doesn't affect me, I just come for practice as normal.

Work, Coach, Play, Wind Down, Sleep

My days don't seem to have much of any free time anymore. I'm always on the run and getting ready for what's next. Get up in the morning, and get to work. Following that, it's off to practice. Generally I get about 45 minutes to prep for practice before heading out.


Maybe some people don't know, but this season I moved from refereeing to coaching. I'm an assistant coach for James Valley, but still have a couple of referee dates on the schedule, plus, will pick up some college games along the way here and there. The past couple of days my forte has been helping the defense, especially the goal keepers. We are having some new drills and working on speed and quickness, and having some fun while doing it. I'm already excited for one week from Friday when we open at home.

Following that, depending on the evening, I've still got softball season hanging on, although now I've got one season complete and Thursday nights I've still got the church league season going into the playoffs now, so that will free up some time also. When school starts, practice will move a bit earlier, and I'll have more of the evenings free. The season will last for 8 more weeks after this one, then it will all be over.

Following that, winding down would be checking email, checking blogs, and blogging here, along with keeping an eye on the Olympics. Got to see a little bit of the gymnasts last night, but they are more coordinated than I could ever wish to be. Otherwise, notables were the USA Men's swimming relay team that beat a French team that said they wanted to "smash the Americans" as the anchor beat his best ever time by 1.5 seconds to give the USA relay team the gold in the 4x100 relay. Take the 2 minutes to watch it by clicking here. It's unreal. I've watched it 7 times, and it never gets old. If you can find a video highlight of it, you've gotta see the swim. How many world records have fallen? Seems like the are falling and being reset constantly. Mens soccer is out, they didn't fair well at all. Cat Osterman threw a no-hitter in softball. Been pretty interesting, so I keep an eye on it.

Then it's off to my bed. 10 is my sleep number. As in on a good night, I'd get 10 hours of sleep. I don't know when the last time that happened was, but it's been a very long time. Speaking of which, about time to head there....

Take me out to the Birdcage

This weekend I got to go do one of the more enjoyable activities you can do in summer, well if you're a sports fan. I went to enjoy some minor league baseball. A nice summer evening, outdoors, with the crack of the bat and the crowd, it was a great time. I went with my buddy Jordon, and we got to sit with a group of about 10 people that just had fun laughing, joking, and telling great stories as we enjoyed the game.

One thing I love about minor league baseball is the creativity of the promotions staff. They do crazy things you won't see in the pros. I like watching pro baseball just as well, but this has a totally new feel to it. For example, the Village People made an appearance.


I'm not sure how they talked these 5 senior citizens into doing this, but it got a huge response from the crowd. They laughed, the of course sang along (everyone sings along with YMCA), and they did the actions right along with them.


The night we were there happened to be super hero night, and Spiderman made an appearance. Even better, Spidey coached first base for half an inning. On one play, the baserunner on first takes off running, trying to steal second. Well, he doesn't get to stay as the batter fouled the ball off, so the runner came back to first. One younger kid in the stand yelled, "Way to send the runner Spidey, good call!" Of course, that sign comes from the third base coach, and spiderman had absolutely nothing to do with it, but it still got a good chuckle from that area of the ball park.

The weekend wasn't all fun and games though. I had to endure two torture tests. The people who put these on call them physical fitness test, but they are really torture tests. If we'd turn them into the police, they'd be arrested on account of cruel and unusual punishment. Funny that football, basketball, and pretty much all the other sports don't require their referees to pass these tests, but not soccer, nooooo. The one I took this morning they talk about making you sign a waiver that if you die doing the test, your family cannot sue the referee organization. But, I didn't die (yet) and I'm now certified for another year. Not sure how much I'll use it though, since I'm helping coach soccer this fall too. Speaking of which, I have to run and get my own "torture plans" ready for the kids tomorrow.

Softbrawl Game

This was the scene tonight as the lower half of the Men's League Softball Post Season tournament got under way. We are the top seed, playing the hated rivals (I don't even know their team name....and I don't think they are really hated or rivals, but anyhow...). The tension was thick, so thick, it could have been cut with a knife. We got first blood in the top of the first inning, scoring 8 runs. They were down, and we knew it. We had them down, and needed to deliver the knock out blow. We battle, we hit, we ran the bases, we got a 12-2 lead going into the bottom of the 7th inning. Before the dust settled in the top half of the 7th, I was lifted for a sub after injuring my ankle on the bases (to shake off the pain, I ran a mile and a half after the game). So, to the bottom of the 7th we go, that's when it went down. 2 outs, last hope for the other team (I still don't have any idea what their team name was....) and there was a sharp grounder to the right side, it was knocked down, and a quick toss to second for the force, and it was in time to get the runner who came barreling into second base arms locked outward drilling the second baseman, sending him to the outfield grass, barely conscious. Ok, so he was completely conscious the entire time, but he did get knocked to the outfield grass, it was quite a thumping he took from the runner. The game was over, and the top seeded good guys got the big win to stay on top of the Bottom Half of the Mens League Tournament. Ohh, yeah, there wasn't really any pushing or shoving or punching or hitting each other with bats, balls or gloves, just some words exchanged from a distance. I watched it all happened from my spot in the dugout. It was the first time this season where I was not on the field while our team was playing in a game. The usually reliable TW was out of the game, but only because I agreed to be taken out, since we had alot of extra people there that night. We all went home, still wound up, but overall everyone was fine.

Ahhh....the Lake

This is summer, and you'll want to be sure to check out the Photo Gallery for more great pictures from the events of the weekend. It didn't look too promising during the first part of the day, but things got better quickly, and it got to be a decent evening for a while, but didn't keep up for the entire evening, as we just couldn't get the wind to die down. Every night the past week when we wanted the wind to keep things from getting tough while we combined, nothing, the wind would be still. When on the Lake, wind torments us. But, the highlight of the day would be getting some newcomers skiing. It's always fun to see the excited expression on a kid's face when they get it for the first time, plus I got the honor of being the boat driver. Both made a guy feel all warm.

Anyhow, since I was driving the boat for the last half of the evening, the images in the Photo Gallery are only from the middle of the time on the water, but some of you may not be aware, that Lake Byron now has it's own blog (kinda). You can check it out by Clicking Here, or check out the link now on "My Links" on the right of this page.

Work Hard, Play Hard

That is going to be the motto for tomorrow. Before you start laughing, remember that I spent most of this week doing double duty, doing the radio station by day, and helping combine by afternoon and evening. It's been quite a busy week doing that, and now we have come upon Sunday, which means lake time! Tomorrow will be a welcome break on the water.